What's the fascination with trailer bearings?
So I've seen many, many posts over the years about checking hubs with IR guns for excessive heat. I've even seen posts where people check their hubs every stop. :E My question is why? I have never ...
Forum Discussion
Ok, this thread is getting off base.
What I want to know is "why the fascination with trailer bearings?"
Specifically for those people that gun their trailer bearings every stop why don't you gun your TV bearings at every stop?
Specifically for those of you that pack your bearings every year, why don't you pack your bearings on your TV every year? (For those that don't have cartridge type bearings)
For those of you that have your trailer bearings packed every year and still gun your bearing at every stop all year long. Why? Do you not trust your tech to do a good job? To me, this would be like checking your lug nuts every 100 miles after you get your tires replaced until those tires wear out. :h (My TT actually has a sticker on it that say's "check lug nuts every 50 miles!!!!") If I followed this to the letter I would have to pull over about 6 times a day while on vacation and pull the hub caps 24 times and check 120 lug nuts...............per day!!! Ya, right. :R
And now for some of the failures I have seen when doing wheel bearings for other people or used trailers I have purchased:
A high percentage that I have seen is contamination. I see this mostly on boat trailers. Water gets in a causes a mess. Pitting starts removing the hard facing and then the bearing fails. I've seen a few on other trailers that have bad seals and dirt gets in them an they fail. But far and away it was water contamination.
A fairly low percentage is old grease or a poor quality grease. This I saw a lot on old, old, old trailers (think 30, 40 or more year old with 50's grease in them) like utility trailer and the like. They may have not been used in many, many years and someone decides to put them back in service without pulling a hub. All the grease by this time has gassed off and it's just some dried up waxy stuff trying to lube the bearings. That doesn't cut it so the bearing ends up failing.
Another very high percentage is incompetence. Either the spindle nut is too tight and the friction is so high the bearing heats up and it smokes the bearing or the spindle nut is so loose the wheel flops around and beat the bu-gesues out of the rollers and race and the bearings fail. IMHO this is why you see failures in states that mandate inspections. I feel sorry for you that have to go through this mess each year. "Usually" the shops that do this don't put their smartest or best tech on doing this job and it shows.
Another is ignorance. The owner sees easy lube hubs on their trailer and has a, so if a little is good more must be great attitude. They push the back seal out and dirt/ water, sand or other things get in the bearing and boom, bearing failure from contamination.
In any event, I just wanted to hear from those that get out with their ray gun at each stop and gun only their trailer bearings and not their TV bearings.
"I" suspect it's like the guy that cranks his 2015 diesel up in the morning and lets it idle for 45 minutes because he doesn't want to hurt his cold engine because he has been driving diesels since 1955 and that's the way he has always done it. Or the guy that uses synthetic oil in his 2014 pickup and changes it at 3000 miles because he doesn't trust that thing that pops up on the dash that tells him when to change his out. After all, the guy at Quick Lube says he knows what's best for your truck! :S
What I want to know is "why the fascination with trailer bearings?"
Specifically for those people that gun their trailer bearings every stop why don't you gun your TV bearings at every stop?
Specifically for those of you that pack your bearings every year, why don't you pack your bearings on your TV every year? (For those that don't have cartridge type bearings)
For those of you that have your trailer bearings packed every year and still gun your bearing at every stop all year long. Why? Do you not trust your tech to do a good job? To me, this would be like checking your lug nuts every 100 miles after you get your tires replaced until those tires wear out. :h (My TT actually has a sticker on it that say's "check lug nuts every 50 miles!!!!") If I followed this to the letter I would have to pull over about 6 times a day while on vacation and pull the hub caps 24 times and check 120 lug nuts...............per day!!! Ya, right. :R
And now for some of the failures I have seen when doing wheel bearings for other people or used trailers I have purchased:
A high percentage that I have seen is contamination. I see this mostly on boat trailers. Water gets in a causes a mess. Pitting starts removing the hard facing and then the bearing fails. I've seen a few on other trailers that have bad seals and dirt gets in them an they fail. But far and away it was water contamination.
A fairly low percentage is old grease or a poor quality grease. This I saw a lot on old, old, old trailers (think 30, 40 or more year old with 50's grease in them) like utility trailer and the like. They may have not been used in many, many years and someone decides to put them back in service without pulling a hub. All the grease by this time has gassed off and it's just some dried up waxy stuff trying to lube the bearings. That doesn't cut it so the bearing ends up failing.
Another very high percentage is incompetence. Either the spindle nut is too tight and the friction is so high the bearing heats up and it smokes the bearing or the spindle nut is so loose the wheel flops around and beat the bu-gesues out of the rollers and race and the bearings fail. IMHO this is why you see failures in states that mandate inspections. I feel sorry for you that have to go through this mess each year. "Usually" the shops that do this don't put their smartest or best tech on doing this job and it shows.
Another is ignorance. The owner sees easy lube hubs on their trailer and has a, so if a little is good more must be great attitude. They push the back seal out and dirt/ water, sand or other things get in the bearing and boom, bearing failure from contamination.
In any event, I just wanted to hear from those that get out with their ray gun at each stop and gun only their trailer bearings and not their TV bearings.
"I" suspect it's like the guy that cranks his 2015 diesel up in the morning and lets it idle for 45 minutes because he doesn't want to hurt his cold engine because he has been driving diesels since 1955 and that's the way he has always done it. Or the guy that uses synthetic oil in his 2014 pickup and changes it at 3000 miles because he doesn't trust that thing that pops up on the dash that tells him when to change his out. After all, the guy at Quick Lube says he knows what's best for your truck! :S
